Never forget: the Holocaust began with deportations
Speaking to reporters on the grounds of the White House, the
Sadist-in-Chief was really enjoying himself when asked if the idea is for prisoners
trying to escape to get eaten by alligators. “I guess that’s the concept,” he
said before sharing his pleasure.
"Snakes are fast but alligators—we're going to teach
them how to run away from an alligator. Don't run in a straight line, run like
this," he said, making a zigzag with his hands. "You know what, your
chances go up about one percent."
So funny. So much fun. But make no mistake: This 3,000-bed
facility quickly built with cages and razor-wire by floundering Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis—who is trying to get back into the cruelty spotlight—should be
seen for what it is.
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| Banality of evil: Florida Republican Party is already selling merchandise |
As Steve
Schmidt has noted here on Substack, Brittanica offers a clear
definition of what a concentration camp entails. It’s worth taking a moment to
read:
An internment centre for political prisoners and members of national or minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation or punishment, usually by executive decree or military order. Persons are placed in such camps often on the basis of identification with a particular ethnic or political group rather than as individuals and without benefit either of indictment or fair trial. Concentration camps are to be distinguished from prisons interning persons lawfully convicted of civil crimes and from prisoner-of-war camps in which captured military personnel are held under the laws of war. They are also to be distinguished from refugee camps or detention and relocation centres for the temporary accommodation of large numbers of displaced persons.
Trump says it will house “some of the most vicious people on
the planet” and the “worst of the worst.” But we already know that this
labeling has typically been a lie to justify masked men snatching people off
the streets and taking them away in unmarked cars without due process.
Trump’s sadistic, sycophantic Homeland Security chief,
Kristi Noem, was happy to talk about this exciting new project as a possible
model for other states. "Florida was unique in what they presented to us,
and I would ask every other governor to do the exact same thing," Noem
said.
During the visit with Trump and DeSantis, Noem also said
that migrants could avoid going there “if they self-deport,” but then
threatened “if you want and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get
to come back to America.”
“The only way out,” Trump added, “is really deportation.”
It’s never a mistake to predict it will get
worse with Trump and his hateful, lawless, authoritarian regime. I shudder to
imagine the pleasure Trump will convey if and when an escapee is eaten or
killed by an alligator. It's hard to imagine that he, Noem and the sadistic
Trump advisor Stephen Miller are not planning other camps and other ways to
punish migrants and other unwanted people that they demonize.
We can’t look away, even though we want to. We have to
recognize they will continue to escalate the cruelty, the madness and the
lawlessness as long as they can get away with it. I repeat Frederick Douglass’
words from 1857: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it
never will.”
It’s up to us to speak out, to push back, to refuse to let
this hateful regime win. We can’t normalize what’s happening. Their over-reach,
which included the immoral
and repugnant bill passed yesterday by Trump’s Republican cult in the
Senate, convinces me that the day is coming when more than 12 million Americans
will finally say enough is enough.
May it be soon.
